


Star Wars: Restoration

by Nik_Sant_Is_Rex



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Continuation, F/F, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Ghost(s), Jedi Mind Tricks (Star Wars), M/M, Mentioned Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Sith Holocron, Slow Burn, Star Wars References, The Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24317782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nik_Sant_Is_Rex/pseuds/Nik_Sant_Is_Rex
Summary: 3 years after the battle of Exogol: General Finn helps calm interplanetary conflicts in the New Republic, Rose Tico gets sent on a mission to confirm a troubling rumor, Rey helps where she can to heal the galaxy while struggling to heal her own emotions, and Poe finds himself trapped in his worst nightmare: politics.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Just my take on what i think would be an interesting place to take the Sequel Trilogy characters after the events of the films.

33 Years ABY

* * *

The world they were on was considered long-dead. A relic of a time long past when great warriors with swords of light killed each other in droves and were buried in elaborate temples such as the one they were in currently. A harsh wind whipped at their faces as the two men entered the first chamber. The first man was of average build. Nothing special about him on the surface, but the fact that he was often underestimated had worked to his advantage more times than he could count. The other was a devaronian: tall, muscular, and built like a permacrete refresher.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" the devaronian asked, "It looks like every other tomb on this blasted world. The University won't pay very much if all we get out of this is another essay on hieroglyph variations."

"Don't worry my friend. This is the place." said the first man.

Walking further into the tomb, they came across the sarcophagus chamber. The stone brick walls leading up into the vaulted ceiling and extended far past the radius of their glow rod gave the room a feeling of being infinite. At the end of the room, a towering statue of an armored figure stood as if watching over the body of the man it was modeled after, and lining the walkway to the coffin were smaller statues depicting the ancient sage Sistros, one of the four law-giving sages of Dwarti. The first man also noted with some amusement that the image of Sistros also played a large part in the pre-Empire Republic Iconography. Reaching the tomb, they felt a sudden gust of heat as smoke began to billow from the coffin, and a voice that filled the chamber spoke to them.

"Why do you come to my tomb?" The voice was grating to listen to. As if it was being spoken by something dead, and yet still filled with power

"To learn." spoke the first man.

"What could you hope to learn from a dead man?" The voice replied.

"A path forward."

"Do you know who I am?"

"A great warrior. Someone who took his fate into his own hands, and shaped the galaxy."

"Then you know why my knowledge is not a simple token? That only the strong deserve to learn it? Why should I not kill the both of you for daring to disturb my rest!"

"Because of two things: if the stories are true, you out of all of them knew strength lies in the mind, not just the body. And _if_ the stories are true, you never even had a body left to bury when you died, making me wonder what's in that coffin."

Spine-chilling laughter filled the chamber, its echoes multiplying and intensifying until it felt like a thousand entities were joining in the amusement until it abruptly stopped. The coffin became even hotter, as runes on the side of the lid began to glow. Slowly the lid sealing it began to disintegrate leaving it open for the two explorers. Peering in, where there should have been a corpse wrapped in the ceremonial garb of their order was a single item: a tetrahedron made of red crystal, with intricate silver etchings on every face. The first man reached in and grabbed it.

"What is it professor?" said the burly devaronian. "Some kind of relic?"

"You could say that, my friend." the professor replied "But it's proper term is 'Holocron'. More specifically, the long-lost Holocron of _Darth Bane_ himself."

Outside the tomb, the wind whistled incessantly. And although the galaxy did not know it yet, events that should never have occurred were set into motion.


	2. The Jedi and her Ghost

5 years later

38 ABY

Ganis Village, Felucia

* * *

Rey Skywalker stood on the hilltop surveying the village. The Weequay pirates that stopped by a couple times a season to demand part of the harvest kept things interesting, but ultimately she was glad for the peace and quiet that helping establish the village afforded.

the destruction of Hosnian Prime and Kijimi a year later left a lot of refugees looking for a home, and Rey was only too eager to help the resettlement efforts where she could. For the past couple months she had volunteered to help establish a farming village on Felucia with refugees from Kijimi. She was the first to admit she didn’t know a thing about farming, growing up around sand and rusting metal her whole life, but learning what to do was the easy part. It was doing the work of actually helping the settlers to raise the sheds and till the fields that was more exerting.

” _did you imagine that this is what it would be like?_ ” A voice asked her. It wasn’t the voice of any of the settlers, or even a voice that could be heard by anyone but her. It was the voice of Ben, her other half in more ways than one. The man who had given everything for her, knowing what it would cost to do so.

”I didn’t imagine there would be this much manure.” She replied aloud “but it feels good to be helping people that need it.”

” _I’m glad._ ” He said “ _I could see the joy on their faces when they greet you in the market. They’ll be sad to see you go._ ”

”I don’t have a choice.” She said “there are other planets that need me. I can help them.”

” _You do have a choice, Rey. You have saved countless lives and improved the lives of many more, but the galaxy won’t be healed by one woman alone._ ” He said it in that soft, deep, pleading tone he used when he spoke to her from his heart. She had heard it for the first time on Ach-To where their force bond had been born, and they connected for the first time. She had heard it again later on Snoke’s flagship in the aftermath of the battle with the Praetorian Guards, and now she was hearing it’s soothing sounds again as he softly tried to convince her to do something that she wanted to do, as opposed to what she knew she needed to.

”I know, Ben. And I would love to stay, but there’s so much i can still do.”

” _Please don’t blame yourself for what happened on Exogol._ ” Ben replied, Answering the question she was leaving unasked.

”Ben, I thought I asked you not to read my thoughts without permission.”

” _I wasn't. I don’t need to_.”

She let out a sigh. He wasn’t wrong, in the past few years she had been pushing herself pretty hard to help anyone she could. The Resistance had met up with some surviving senators and reformed the Republic, but everything outside the Mid Rim was chaos. With Poe busy as the Military Advisor to the new Chancellor and Finn and Rose on constant missions for the Republic Military, she felt left out in a way, so had turned to refugee work. She knew her friends, her chosen family, weren’t doing it on purpose, but she didn’t want to get in their way either.

she turned and walked back down the hill to the house on the outskirts of the village she had constructed when she got to the planet. Still conflicted between guilt and love she finally decided to stay here until the crops that had just been planted were ready to harvest.

”what could it hurt?” She thought “it will only be one more season.”


	3. Hero of The Resistance

38 ABY

Luca City, Ord Mantell

* * *

"Contact!"

In an instant, the air was thick with blasterfire. Val and Sparks went down before they could react, and the rest of the team took cover against the ruins of a bombed-out structure

"Where is it coming from?" shouted Finn

"Hard to tell sir!" replied Teek, his Lieutenant. "They've got us pinned!"

Finn concentrated for a moment, his back pressed against the permacrete wall, and closed his eyes. he extended his thoughts to the surrounding area and could feel the mix of adrenaline and desperation in his soldiers. further, still, he felt the presence of the three Black Sun combatants firing at them from ahead and up. coming back to himself, he turned to Teek.

"Three of them! The roof of the building across the lane! I'll draw their fire!"

Centering herself, he dove out from cover, firing blindly in the direction of the Black Sun soldiers. Taking advantage of the distraction, Teek quickly launched a thermal detonator into the enemy position, vaporizing them instantly. with the firefight over, they tended to their wounded. Val's wounds weren't fatal, but the chunk taken out of her shoulder meant that she was out of the fight for the next few weeks while healing in the bacta tank. Sparks wasn't so lucky. a blaster would where his heart should be indicated that at the very least he didn't suffer. Finn let out a sigh

"Let's get back to base. we're done here," he said

It was tough to be part of the "cleanup crew" for the Republic Military, and a lot tougher when most of the soldiers you commanded were First Order Stormtroopers up until only a few years ago. in the wake of the Battle of Exegol, thousands of First Order Stormtroopers had surrendered to the Resistance. Resistance leaders like Commander D'Acy had proposed creating a prison colony for ex-first order military, but Poe and Finn were quick to offer another alternative: Stormtroopers that willingly defected or surrendered would be given a chance to join the Republic's military as a way of utilizing their skills for good for the first time in their life. if not, they would be allowed to relocate to a colony planet to start a life of their own. The choice between the two options was important to Finn. they had never chosen to be part of the First Order and had never known life outside of the military. this would allow them to truly _choose_ what their destiny would be.

It wasn't a surprise when many of them signed up for the military, and as a response to the large influx of pre-trained (although some re-instruction would be necessary due to the difference between their old way of fighting and their new one) soldiers, a new legion was created, commanded by the Hero of The Resistance himself, General Finn. many of the soldiers kept parts of their old armor and repainted it to reflect their new life. they had also chosen new names for themselves. some, like Finn, was based on their old ID numbers. Teek, his Lieutenant, used to be TK-1654. Val, the soldier they were giving medical attention to, used to be VL-4862. The names and nicknames were important too. it gave them an identity beyond just a number.

Finn and the soldiers under his command had been working tirelessly for the past two years to help wrangle the systems of the republic back together. The Black Sun, Pike Syndicate, and the Hutt Cartels had been quick to impose their small kingdoms in the confusion of the First Order's power grab three years ago, and now the Republic was inch by inch, planet by planet, taking it back. for the past 6 months they had been chipping away at Black Sun's hold on the systems surrounding their home base of Ord Mantell, and now they were close to victory. Today he and a squad of soldiers were doing recon work to prepare for the final push but were ambushed on their way back. it always hurt to lose a soldier but he had gotten used to it. when his soldiers died, he took solace in knowing that they had died fighting for something they believed in, rather than something they were forced into.

The Sun set on their Base Camp as Finn made plans for the next day's operations. Rey and Poe might have gotten to live somewhat of a peaceful life after Exegol, but Finn was doubtful he'd ever get that chance. he owed it to his men, his brothers, and sisters on the battlefield, to be the person they looked up to. They were all willing to go down fighting, Finn just wanted to make sure as little of them died as possible.


	4. The Pilot

38 ABY

Senate Building, Coruscant 

* * *

“... And I will remind the esteemed senator from Malastare that these actions in the mid and outer rims are not only justified but necessary steps that need to be taken to ensure the security of the New Republic!”

The Chancellor’s voice boomed across the vast rotunda that housed the Senate of the New Republic. Unused for decades, the building was on the verge of disrepair after the disbanding of the Imperial Senate nearly 40 years ago. Chancellor Mon Mothma’s decision to move the New Republic Senate after the fall of the Empire to other worlds had been a sound one for several reasons, but after the destruction of Hosnian Prime by Starkiller Base the surviving senators had scattered, and when the time came to reform the New Republic Coruscant seemed like the right place.

the current Chancellor was a man named Gar Kalpana. Sharing a surname with a Chancellor of the Old Republic won him some respect, but even then he didn’t need it. He’d made a name for himself by commanding one of the ships that came to the aid of the Resistance at the Battle of Exogol, and the holovid of his light cruiser going toe-to-toe with a Final Order Star Destroyer and winning became the stuff of legends on his home planet of Eriadu.

His current battle was difficult in another way: one of politics and deliberation rather than starfighters and snap decisions. This was a difficulty he shared with his new Military Advisor and bodyguard: General Poe Dameron. Poe was seated to the right of the Chancellor inside the towering pod at the center of the rotunda. As Kalpana mediated the discussion over the military actions General Finn undertook in Black Sun territory, Poe wished he could be anywhere else. He wished he could be joining in the invasion of Nar Shaada or Obadiah instead of skimming casualty reports and mission debriefings.

This session of the Senate wrapped up much like they had every day of the past month: with nothing accomplished except for meaningless debate. Poe escorted the Chancellor back to his office.

”Another productive day in the famous Republic Senate right sir?” Poe asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice 

”Don’t patronize me, Dameron. Do you think I want to spend 5 hours listening to those self-aggrandizing moof-milkers? Every time they bring up budget reports or trade-route taxation I feel like ripping out the little hair I have left!” Kalpana said

”I don’t think you’d look that bad bald Gar. It would suit you pretty well.”

”thank you for the input, General. It means a lot to me.” Said Kalpana, a bit of playfulness edging back into his voice 

”Oh we’re using our titles now? In that case _Chancellor,_ I believe if you are finished for the day it is my responsibility to escort you back to your residency.”

”in your pathetic excuse for a speeder? Ha! I’d have better luck walking there!”

”Well I’d take you in the X-Wing but I’m not sure your old heart could take the excitement.”

”I guess we’ll have to find out!”

”race you to the Kaldani Spires?”

”yep. Loser buys lunch tomorrow?”

”Deal. And... go!”

the two men raced back to the Chancellor’s apartment in Coruscant’s famous Kaldani Spires: a Building for old money Coruscanti residents once owned in its entirety by a Munn banker back in the days of the republic before Chancellor Palpatine came to power. Kalpana beat Poe to the motor pool where their speeders were stored, but it was in the air that Poe really soared. Both literally and figuratively. To his credit, Kalpana was able to keep up with the Ace pilot for most of the journey, but in the end, it was Poe that was waiting on the landing pad as Kalpana pulled up in the last place.

”blast it, Dameron, you win again.”

”you’re getting better sir, I was sure I’d lose you in the tunnel back there.

”not a chance. Well, a deal’s a deal. Lunch is on me tomorrow.”

the two men: friends in an unlikely place, retired to the Chancellor’s suite for a few hours before Poe returned to his modest apartment in 500 Republica. It wasn’t the post-war life Poe had envisioned, but he felt needed here even if it meant his friends... no, his family: Rey, Finn, and Rose didn’t get to see him as often. He knew he was doing good work through, or at least trying to. The New Republic needed him, and he’d be damned if anything could pull him away from that.


	5. Connecting The Dots

38 ABY

University of Bar'Leth, Inner Rim

* * *

The University of Bar'Leth, situated on a planet that shared the same name, had one of the most extensive libraries in the galaxy. The sprawling campus the size of an entire city was constructed out of ancient Sandstone mined from the planet's soil. Entire city blocks were dedicated to various research labs and lecture halls, and at the center of the university was its famous library. Inside the library were treatises, essays, thesis papers, and autobiographies from all across the galaxy. Histories of the rise and fall of the Old Republic describing its founding, the Sith and Mandalorian Wars, the supposed extinction of the Sith 1000 years ago, the Ruusan reformations, the Great Disaster of the High Republic, and finally the Clone Wars and Jedi Purge filled an entire wing of the university library.

Sitting at a table in one corner of this wing between the shelves for the years of 1100 and 900 BBY was a single, solitary human. he was an older man in his 60's, unassuming and wiry yet incredibly fit for his age, though he hid it behind extravagant robes. the black stripe running the length of his sleeve designated him as a professor at the college, and the warm green tabard with the crest of a Drexl beast he wore over his robes announced that he belonged to the Bar'Leth College of Anthropology. To his students, he was Professor Tenris Jovan, a good-natured human from Onderon with a sharp wit and an affinity for practical jokes.

To his Apprentice, who posed as a graduate student at the university, he was someone else entirely: he was Darth Nexos, the first of a new breed of Sith.

He hadn't earned the title. Not technically at least. He had never had a formal master from whom he could wrench power when the time was right, but then again, the last true successor of the Bane line never truly had an interest in passing it on anyway. No doubt Sidious was a political genius, managing to maneuver the republic into falling within mere decades meanwhile other Sith went their entire life without so much as tipping the balance, but the one thing Sidious seemed to lack was self-awareness. In the end, he was defeated in the same way the Jedi were: his arrogance made him blind to the real threat and allowed the largest fleet in galactic history to rise against him on Exogol. The Force struck back and Darth Sidious, the last Sith of the Bane Lineage paid the price for it.

Nexos felt no pity for him. For all his strength he was weak to the Light and deserved his death at the hands of that scavenger girl.

Their successful trip to Moraband (which some outdated star maps referred to as "Korriban") years ago was a sign that The Dark Side favored his actions over Sidious. he had retrieved the Holocron of Bane from his tomb where it was placed by Bane's apprentice after their duel, and from it, he had learned so much. Bane was the true Sith'ari: balancing strength, guile, force mastery, and lightsaber skill. The imperative he put forth lasted the Sith a thousand years, but it wasn't enough. the Sith that followed him were cunning yes, and they placed artfulness over arrogance more often than not, but in the end, they still became consumed with greed, causing their downfall. what the Sith needed to learn was humility, and to keep in mind that The Force punishes hubris whether dark or light. He had already instilled these values in himself and his apprentice but before they could begin their work diminishing the Light, they must first consolidate the dark.

Nexos wasn't stupid. He knew that he wasn't the only Dark Side user in the galaxy, and he knew that other would-be Sith were keen to prove themselves against the new Jedi girl and her companions, but it was too soon. His first order of business would be to eliminate his rivals before they unintentionally set off a galaxy-wide hunt for dark side users, and that was why he was here.

To learn from the mistakes of others you must first know what they are. There were no written histories of the Sith, especially not anything that the citizens of the galaxy would be allowed to read, but by piecing together the bits that were known about the Sith of the past with the major political events of the last millennium a history could be assembled. Nexos started his search by trying to discover Sidious' master. From there he traced the exploits of their mundane alter egos until he could connect an unbroken line from Bane through Zannah, Cognus, Millenial, Gravid, Tenebrous, Plagueis, and finally Sidious. sundry apprentices such as Darths Tyrannus and Venamis proved to be more difficult to trace, but they too were eventually discovered by careful research in the pages of history. The biggest mistake of the Sith past was to assume the Jedi were the enemy, when in fact the enemy of the Sith was the Light itself. The Jedi were simply victims of optimism and hope, symptoms of The Force refusing to be wrestled to the user's will.

He sensed someone coming up behind him and discreetly drew the force within him, minimizing his presence in The Force. Turning, he saw his apprentice Darth Fortus in his university robes custom sewn to fit his large devaronian frame.

"You requested me, Professor?" Fortus asked by way of greeting

"Yes, my boy, I believe I've found our next subject as it were," Nexos said, falling back into his persona as Professor Jovan

"Glad to hear it. when do we leave?"

"Depends on when your classes end for the day. Can't have you falling too far behind."

"Of course, Professor. I can be ready to leave by nightfall."

"Then that's when we will depart. I will brief you more once we have left the atmosphere."

"I await our mission... Master." Fortus said, lowering his voice 

"Have faith, my apprentice. Soon we will be the sole voices of the Dark...

...and the Living Force itself will be ours to control."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit this chapter might be a little dry, and don't be afraid to let me know if you think so too, I just thought establishing this new character needed a bit more exposition than the other ST characters.


End file.
